Attracting the Right Leads
These days, I am very into Dax Shepard and his podcast Armchair Expert. Maybe you’ve noticed that he’s the namesake of our puppy, Dax the Shepard (get it?). I learn so much from this podcast about business, interview styles, and humanity. And on a recent episode he said something that made me think of a key ingredient in our business: attracting the right leads. He said,
I’m not in the business of soliciting. I’m in the business of attracting.
He explains (paraphrased), “If someone sees who I am and what I have, and they want that life, I can tell them what they need to do to get it. But if that’s not interesting to them, I’m not going to solicit them.”
In this case, he was talking about Alcoholics Anonymous; admittedly, it’s different from small business advisement. But…
As we’ve been talking so much about business development in a human, authentic way, this statement hit me with thoughtfulness and truth. Our very ethos for how we want to choose clients is by attracting them. Not soliciting.
Whenever we’re getting ready for a meeting with a lead, or someone who may generously lead us to a lead, our team preps with these three steps to make sure it’s a good fit, from both ends. Remember, we work with businesses for a minimum of one year. It’s definitely in our best long-term interest to ensure that we’re talking to a business and a human, who’s a good match for us, and vice versa.
1. Respond within 24 hours (at the most).
Let me first say: if you’re a volume-based, online company, 24 hours is way too slow. Five minutes is your SLA. For those of us who do relationship-based b2b sales, 24 hours is decent, as only 53% of companies hold this standard! At the bare minimum, reply with a placeholder email to establish contact and set expectations within the day.
The goal should really be within one hour; or if we’re setting a BHAG, within five minutes. So our 24 hour timeline is good (better than many!), but we still have room to improve here too.
2. Set up an automated questionnaire to learn about your lead. Then, set expectations with them about the consult.
Remember that technology and automation is your friend and in fact, should be implemented wisely to help you provide more customized service! When we use it for efficiencies (emails, workflows, etc), we save brain space to do meaningful, high-performing work.
Before we have a consult with a lead, we ask them to fill out our questionnaire. The questions we pose are informed by the data we constantly collect and analyze, specifically around ideal clients and profitability. Before our meeting, we review the lead’s replies and prepare our agenda appropriately.
Then, Nancy made a great new addition to our process to set expectations for a consult. She suggests that a day ahead of our consults, we send a note that says,
How will our time together tomorrow look and feel? Exploratory and fun! I’m going to ask you some questions about your business and, well…you! We’ll talk about Ellevated Outcomes, and come away with an understanding on if or how we may be able to support you and what next steps would look like. No prep required from your end, just bring an open mind and your notebook!
The key to both of these steps is automated workflows and templates so that this stuff happens without us having to think about it too hard. (We use Dubsado as our workflow management tool, if you’d like to know).
3. Go through your rituals checklist.
This is one of those things, where my husband and my friends would roll their eyes and cite my “woo.”
Before I reveal these rituals, I know and admit that they’re a little wacky. But I am who I am!
And remember, to us, these aren’t just people we’re pushing through a pipeline. They’re people with whom we’re establishing long-term relationships. We’re getting pretty intimate together. So it’s important to know that we’re in flow and attracting the right people.
So with that excuse-making out of the way, here’s my little pre-meeting ritual checklist:
- Ensure that Feng shui is aligned to let money in
- Do pre-meeting spritz & set my intention. BTW Sarah has the most beautiful intention. She prays, “please give me the insight and intuition to ask about anything unsaid, that I should ask about.”
- Ask, “what impression am I emitting?” Ensure that you’re showing up in a way to earn the person’s trust, enthusiasm, and investment. For this, I think about what I’m wearing and match it the person’s vibe. Nancy does a happy dance before she gets on camera, to amp up her energy!
I know that it’s very possible that I’ve lost you on this last bit. I’m fully aware that it’s a little out there. But the more you can be in tune with yourself, your company’s truest intentions, and the Universe, the better chance that you will be on course with your business purpose, which starts with attracting the right leads that help you fulfill that destiny.
